FMLA Eligibility Changes

By: Jane Lewis Volk, Esquire jlv@muslaw.com

A recent case in a Pennsylvania federal district court should remind employers that even employees who don't meet the eligibility requirements for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act are still eligible for protection under that law.

The Act entitles employees with a minimum of 12 months on the job to take unpaid leave of up to 12 weeks for the care of a newborn or adopted child or an immediate family member with a serious health condition, or for the employee's own serious health condition. The Act only covers employers with more than 50 employees.

In the case in question, an employee who had been working for only 6 months informed her employer that she planned to take maternity leave in 6 months' time. Although she was not yet eligible for leave at the time of her notice, she would be eligible by the time of the requested leave.

Shortly after she announced her pregnancy, the employer fired her. She filed a lawsuit claiming that the firing was unlawful retaliation under the Act. A district court agreed that the anti-retaliation provision of the Act protects employees who give notice, as long as they will be eligible for the leave by the time it starts.